Discovery Yachts, primarily initiated by John Charnley in 1998, is a family-run builder of blue water sailing boats. This UK based company has recently decided to increase their production as well as hire new team of professionals in Southampton. What encouraged them to proceed with this were the significant surge in their sales and also the rise in boating participation in UK. The company basically functions from a purpose-built industrial unit in Marchwood, Southampton.
Discovery has introduced two latest cruising yachts – the Discovery 67 and Discovery 50 catamaran at the 2010 London International Boat Show in January. Moreover, it is hands full with requisitions already placed for the upcoming two years. One factor leading to this progress has been the sales volume of the highly acknowledged Discovery 55, at Southampton Boat Show in 2009.
The announcement of the British Marine Federation survey results ran parallel to Discovery’s recent move. This research revealed that almost 3.7m UK adults registered for at least one of 12 boating activities, denoting a 7.2 per cent of the UK population – an insignificant increase compared to the last year’s levels.
The range of activities included by the Watersports and Leisure Participation Survey are canoeing, waterskiing, small sailboat activities, rowing, windsurfing, using personal watercraft, motor boating/cruising, yacht cruising, power boating, small sailboat racing, canal boating and yacht racing. Across the different activities, it was found that motor boating/cruising and canal boating signify an upsurge in participation since 2002, with power boating, yacht cruising and yacht racing showing constant participation trends.
Another finding of the survey which is in its eighth year was that 2.73 per cent of UK households possess at least one boat or craft. This translates into an estimated 1.1m boats/craft owned by UK households. Out of these, seven per cent are placed abroad.
Rob Stevens (Chief Executive of BMF) believes this upward trend in participation levels in boating, water sports and water-based leisure activities in 2009 gives them a boost. One of the factors triggering this upsurge is the varied range of boating and water sports prospects that are accessible to everyone in the UK.
